Over the last 5 days, I travelled with my wife and my family to see my sister graduate with her master’s degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. We then took a road trip to Austin to relax. On this trip, I began to realize how truly impactful WiMAX (or whatever the name of the technology is at the time) will be.
Since I don’t wish to get into the technical details of the technology and since we still don’t yet know what the standard frequency or protocol will be, I’ll simply use the term “WiMAX” to refer to whatever the technology will be that will span multiple miles providing a broad area of Internet access.
WiMAX is the capability of providing Internet access across tens of miles. While your wireless router may only provide Internet access for up to 100 meters or so, WiMAX could extend this range to potentially 25 miles.
While range of the coverage may not impress some, let’s take a look at what this could mean for the world.
With WiMAX available across major highways, your car now can be connected to the Internet while you are driving. Car companies will begin adapting to this new medium and will start adding digital displays in the middle of cars as a standard feature. While GPS’s are becoming more popular today, cars in the WiMAX era and beyond will be able to use Google Earth or an equivalent software application to provide you with driving directions by triangulating your position using the WiMAX providers in addition to or in place of GPS.
By using the display and with the software knowing your location, you will be able to search and find stores, restaurants, areas of interest, etc. by typing in whatever you are looking for and trusting Google with the results.
Drivers and passengers can enjoy they favorite music in their car by downloading music, visiting their favorite online radio station, or playing back music they previously recorded. Likewise, parents no longer need portable DVD players because they can play videos straight from the Internet.
Kids can now be more productive on school bus rides since they can submit their homework online while riding to school.
Modern day cell phones will slowly start phasing out as Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) phones begin to take over. With VOIP phones now dominating the market, cellular phone companies that didn’t adapt to the change will start to struggle and the successfully converted ones will now be forced to change their service models to account for WiMAX service charges instead of cellular service charges. That is, VOIP allows anyone on the Internet to talk to anyone else on the Internet for free. Since WiMAX allows people to connect to the Internet from anywhere, no one will really need the old cell phones any more because VOIP provides “free” long distance calling. The call itself will be free, but the WiMAX of course will require monthly service charges.
With more cars now connected to the Internet, better traffic information can be obtained resulting in improved traffic modeling and better traffic warning. Since your car delivers you with directions, it will also re-route you to the most optimal path to avoid heavy traffic or accidents.
Firmware within the car can now receive instant updates allowing for more complex system functionality. You’ll quickly start to notice that the interior of cars will become more and more digital with fancier displays now that cars are able to download updates directly.
More laws will be formed to crack down on car hacking and car viruses.
Routine maintenance will now be tracked hourly as opposed to now where the dealer waits until you come in. Also, as certain components in your car become worn out or break, advertisements for the old items will start appearing in the middle display trying to obtain your business. A whole new money making opportunity begins to unfold as car display advertising takes full force.
Kids are now entertained for hours on long road trips since they are now able to play their online video games at all times.
Documenting trips takes on a whole new level as digital cameras now upload pictures instantly from the time they are taken to your personal website with the date, time, and location automatically entered.
Camping becomes a bit more techie since you can now research hiking paths as you walk on them. The triangulation feature again helps to geolocate your location keeping you on the open paths and away from the more dangerous ones that were flooded by last week’s rain.
Billboards along highways now dynamically change whenever someone purchases new ad space.
I feel as though the more I type, the more possibilities pop into my head. WiMAX will not only increase the range for wireless Internet access, but it will completely change how the world operates!
Whew! I can’t wait for it to get here!
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Michael - The Catalyst